Tag: Curiosity

Door 16

These doors belong to a small shop called Pastimes, which tells us everything really, a shop was never so aptly named. I don’t think that anything about the decor of the shop, and indeed much of its content, has changed since the 1960s.

I would guess that it is owned and managed by a passionate collector, and not a shopkeeper. It looks very much like a situation where a hobby has spiralled out of control. I cannot recall seeing the shop being open…ever, and it appears to have been in a condition of stasis over the last couple of years. Maybe the owner is unwell or too old to look after things. But it is still there, and when I pass I gaze through the windows trying to see what lies within. Wartime memorabilia, stamps, cigarette cards, coins, plates…all those kinds of things adorn the walls (and floor space).

It is interesting that the shop seems to span two buildings, each with its own front door. I don’t know if they join up inside. The building itself is not kept in the best of repair, and I am left wondering if the owner of the shop is also the owner of the buildings – how else could the shop still be there?

I think every town has a shop like this. A wonderland. An old curiosity shop.

 

Thursday Doors – Norm 2.0